Keen Senses (Major) - Pointless?

[nintaku]

The good trait Keen Senses offers a +2 bonus to a single sense when it's at minor level, but at Major, it gives a +2 to all uses of Awareness for sensing or spotting things, which might actually cover fewer uses than the Awareness trait itself. Why not just spend the 2 points to increase Awareness?

The only reason I can think of would be to take Awareness 5 or 6, then take Keen Senses to improve that bonus beyond what you can normally get. But that seems a little excessive, and then why not have Good Traits to do that with the other Attributes as well?

Am I missing something?

[Marnal]

It is a reasonable point. The only places when the Keen Senses(Major) bonus doesn't play into the rolls is when the PC is rolling for Knowledge checks to see if they happened to have heard about some bit of general info in their life. Or when they are using awareness to diagnose some medical or technological problems. In those circumstances I don't let them use the Keen Senses bonus.

[Siskoid]

I use Awareness in conjunction with scanning devices (AW+Tech). Keen Senses have no effect on that either.

Another reason for Keen Senses is that AW tops out at some point. Having more would make you inhuman. Ahhh, but throw Keen Senses in there and your perfectly human human can have Awareness 7!

[nintaku]

Hm. So it really does look like Keen Senses as a Major trait only makes sense to beat the attribute cap. Still, that is a perfectly valid use for it. Thanks.

[Escher]

I'd say, no, it's not pointless.

The description states that possessing a Keen Sense makes the character ‘very aware of their surroundings’.

I’d argue that a Keen Sense is simply not just a mechanical +2 boost to Awareness rolls, but a defining feature that enables situational opportunities for making Awareness rolls. A Keen Sense is a specific focus with that particular sense.

I’d argue for the fact the any character with Keen Senses would have the Awareness equivalent of ‘Quick Reflexes’, in effect, any character with a Keen Sense could roll for an Awareness check before any other character if the situation warranted it. Such circumstances, would be to hear faint or unusually high or low frequency sounds; to sense someone hiding nearby, a faint rustling of leaves, a slight sudden shadow passing, a flicker in their peripheral vision, and so on.

For example, a character called Pippa, who has a ‘nose like a dog’ has the Trait ‘Keen Senses (Smell)’. Her GM might ask her to roll to sense a faint smell of Cyanide emanating from behind a door, whereas others in group would not be asked to roll for it.
Pippa has Awareness 3 and her +2 bonus for her sense of smell nets a total of 5, before rolling. One of her companions, Ted, has Awareness of 5.
Even though they have the same net total before rolling, the GM would favour Pippa in regards to Awareness rolls for her sense of smell. It means a Keen Sense is more focused in that specific area.

John, with Keen Senses (Sight) might have ‘eyes like a hawk’ and would be able to roll to recognise faint glinting specks on the horizon in a thick forest as a squad of approaching Cybermen.

Note that both these examples have nothing to do with rolled numbers, just the fact that their respective senses are ‘keen’ and they are ‘more aware of their surroundings’ in the game’s narrative.

So, in summary, a Keen Sense is not just a +2 bonus, but a Focused Sense that enables preferential narrative and situational benefits. The Major Trait with all senses would turn the character into a sharp sensory powerhouse.

That’s my take on it as a GM.

[Siskoid]

What Escher said.

[nintaku]

Ah, I see! That's a way to think of it I clearly hadn't considered. In my head, Awareness as a whole would behave like that, so anyone with a relatively high Awareness would pick up on things that way. This way, I can think of the attribute as referring to more general "situational awareness" while the trait would give narrative perks to specific senses, or to all five senses with the Major variety. Thank you.